Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter

by John Donaldson

Viktor Kortchnoi was always saying: if you want to make progress, you have to learn new openings all the time. If such a person gives you such an advice, you should listen to it.

—Boris Gelfand

1)Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club

National Master Peter Zavadsky took byes in the first two rounds of the Summer Tuesday Night Marathon, but that didn’t stop him from taking first place, as he won his next 6 games, including a victory over upset king Brendan Lacounte last night.

Zavadsky’s 7-1 score, which earned him $400, put him a full point ahead of International Master Elliott Winslow and Experts Todd Rumph and Art Zhao. The latter upset National Master Russell Wong, while Rumph, who is in his early 50s, is now just a few points from raising his rating above 2200 for the first time.

International MasterDaniel Naroditsky of Foster City starts play today in the US Junior Closed, taking place at the St. Louis Chess Club. The event is being held as two eight-player round robins, with a match between the winners of each section at the end to decide the title and a spot in the 2013 US Championship. Go Daniel!
All members of the Mechanics’ Chess Room were very happy to see 95-year-old Dan Litowsky after an absence of several months. A regular in Tuesday Night Marathons for the past few decades, Litowsky recently underwent a successful surgery and looked hale and hearty.
Here is 11-year-old Cameron Wheeler’s first win over a Grandmaster.

2) US Players—July FIDE ratingsThe United States is currently ranked number 7 in the world for the average of its top 10 players (2646) behind 1.Russia 2748; 2. Ukraine 2697; 3. France 2664; 4.China 2662 5. Hungary 2659; and 6. Armenia 2658. The US has 71 GMs and 121 IMs.

#

Name

Title

Fed

Rating

G

B-Year

1

Nakamura, Hikaru

g

USA

2778

23

1987

2

Kamsky, Gata

g

USA

2744

11

1974

3

Onischuk, Alexander

g

USA

2666

11

1975

4

Hess, Robert L

g

USA

2639

20

1991

5

Seirawan, Yasser

g

USA

2620

13

1960

6

Akobian, Varuzhan

g

USA

2617

25

1983

7

Lenderman, Aleksandr

g

USA

2613

17

1989

8

Robson, Ray

g

USA

2601

17

1994

9

Ehlvest, Jaan

g

USA

2596

3

1962

10

Shulman, Yuri

g

USA

2588

20

1975

11

Kaidanov, Gregory S

g

USA

2586

11

1959

12

Shankland, Samuel L

g

USA

2579

9

1991

13

Christiansen, Larry M

g

USA

2577

2

1956

14

Ramirez, Alejandro

g

USA

2576

30

1988

15

Novikov, Igor A

g

USA

2563

0

1962

16

Benjamin, Joel

g

USA

2559

8

1964

17

Stripunsky, Alexander

g

USA

2553

11

1970

18

Becerra Rivero, Julio

g

USA

2551

0

1973

18

Goldin, Alexander

g

USA

2551

0

1964

20

Ibragimov, Ildar

g

USA

2539

0

1967

21

Kudrin, Sergey

g

USA

2537

22

1959

22

Sevillano, Enrico

m

USA

2535

11

1968

23

Shabalov, Alexander

g

USA

2534

16

1967

24

Gulko, Boris F

g

USA

2532

0

1947

25

Ivanov, Alexander

g

USA

2529

11

1956

25

Arnold, Marc T

m

USA

2529

9

1992

27

Perelshteyn, Eugene

g

USA

2525

8

1980

28

Dlugy, Maxim

g

USA

2519

9

1966

28

Yermolinsky, Alex

g

USA

2519

0

1958

30

Zatonskih, Anna

m

USA

2512

9

1978

31

De Firmian, Nick E

g

USA

2510

0

1957

32

Friedel, Joshua E

g

USA

2503

9

1986

33

Holt, Conrad

m

USA

2500

18

1993

34

Yang, Darwin

m

USA

2498

18

1996

35

Finegold, Benjamin

g

USA

2493

10

1969

36

Hungaski, Robert Andrew

m

USA

2488

9

1987

37

Naroditsky, Daniel

m

USA

2486

9

1995

38

Ludwig, Daniel

m

USA

2482

9

1990

39

Molner, Mackenzie

m

USA

2479

14

1988

40

Zierk, Steven C

m

USA

2478

6

1993

40

Khachiyan, Melikset

g

USA

2478

0

1970

42

Gurevich, Dmitry

g

USA

2476

18

1956

43

Gonzalez, Renier

g

USA

2472

0

1972

44

Orlov, Georgi

m

USA

2469

9

1964

45

Foygel, Igor

m

USA

2468

8

1947

46

Root, Douglas

m

USA

2465

0

1963

47

Krush, Irina

m

USA

2464

9

1983

48

Shahade, Gregory

m

USA

2462

9

1978

49

Lapshun, Yury

m

USA

2458

0

1972

50

Esserman, Marc

m

USA

2450

0

1983

3) Here and There

Wall Street trader Victor Niederhoffer reports in his book The Education of a Speculator that he and legendary billionaire trader George Soros took lessons for a while from Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier. Niederhoffer says he never defeated the GM at R odds, but Soros won twice. Soros and his father whiled away the time hiding from the Nazis during WW II by playing lots of chess. They played for a cookie.

Grandmaster Sam Shankland has a busy summer. Currently playing in the World Open in Philadelphia, Sam will also participate in tournaments in Biel and Latvia, besides teaching several sessions at the Berkeley Chess School.

All events will be organised in the same venue. It will be unique for our future children, amateurs, tourists, everyone who loves chess.

Don't miss it!

Ali Nihat YAZICI,
Head of Organising Committee

The 45th Biel Chess Festival, which will start on the 21st of July, will be the strongest chess tournament ever held in Switzerland.
This was made possible by the last-minute replacement of GM Lenier Dominguez of Cuba by Magnus Carlsen
(who had become available when the King's Tournament in Romania was cancelled).
The players are